<研究ノート>The Preliminary Development of a Vocabulary List for Osaka Jogakuin Junior College's First Year English Program

Abstract

Vocabulary is important to learners of a second language for many reasons. A faulty vocabulary limits comprehension. It makes production difficult. It hinders communication. Studies have shown that if students are to learn a large amount of vocabulary, especially academic vocabulary, in a short time, direct instruction is very efficient. (Paribakht & Wesche, 1997; Zimmerman, 1994 in Coady & Huckin, 1997) Because of Osaka Jogakuin Junior College's (OJJC) curriculum's emphasis on meaningful themes, random study of vocabulary is undesirable. This paper describes a preliminary vocabulary project using high frequency lists to develop word lists which can be integrated into the existing first year program at OJJC. It describes how the words were selected, provides the actual word lists along with descriptions of the units they belong with, and finally discusses future steps that need to be taken before implementing a complete vocabulary program.